San Diego CVB Wins National Awards for Convention Service
Bureau Named among Best of the Best Nationally
By Joanne DiBona, jdibona@sdcvb.org
The San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (ConVis) recently received three national awards for providing exceptional service to conventions and meetings.
For the sixth year in a row, ConVis was awarded the prestigious 2007 Gold Service ELITE designation, bestowed by the readers of
Meetings & Conventions magazine.
The ELITE award, established to celebrate the "best of the best" among convention and visitor bureaus, recognizes the nation's top five bureaus. Each year
Meetings & Conventions magazine polls its 70,000 subscribers from around the world, asking them to select the bureaus that provide exceptional service in a variety of categories.
Through totally unaided recall,
Meetings & Convention's readers make their selections based on key criteria including: professionalism of staff; support on hotel and site inspections; assistance with ground transportation planning; guidance on local attractions; and liaison with local vendors and services.
As a result of this latest poll, some 85 CVBs across the country are being honored with the "Gold Service" distinction. Narrowing down the competition even further, the top five bureaus with the highest scores have been named to the ELITE status.
ConVis has won the award for six consecutive years, since
Meetings & Conventions created the award in 2002. Last year, San Diego shared the honors with bureaus in Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando/Orange County. This year’s winners will be announced in the November 2007 issue of
Meetings & Conventions magazine.
The ELITE award comes on the heels of another outstanding award presented to ConVis by the readers of
Successful Meetings magazine. For the fourteenth year in a row, ConVis is the recipient of the prestigious
Successful Meetings Pinnacle Award.
The readers of
Successful Meetings magazine —corporate and association executives with meeting planning responsibilities — annually select those organizations that have done an outstanding job servicing their meetings, trade shows and conventions the previous year.
ConVis earned top scores in overall quality and expertise of convention services; providing up-to-date hotel and supplier information; availability of promotional support and event publicity; and liaison support in contacting suppliers and registration assistance.
According to information posted on the award's website, San Diego posted high ranking among the 40 national and international bureaus who earned an award designation. Several planners had the following to say about San Diego CVB staff: “Very responsive & offer many suggestions"…"Great group to work with"..."Fantastic help! Quick in helping me distribute RFP's and find appropriate properties"... "Good follow-up and keeps in touch with me throughout the year".
A third national honor came to ConVis in the form of the 2007 “Award of Excellence” presented by
Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine. The magazine recently polled their subscribers and asked them to vote for the bureaus that best served their meetings and incentive programs. A complete list of the national winners of this designation will be published in the November 2007 issue of the magazine.
According to Harvey Grotsky, publisher of
Corporate & Incentive Travel, this award is known among meeting planners as one of the most discerning awards in the industry. “For the past 23 years, we’ve published an annual supplement listing the winning resorts, hotels, conference centers and convention and visitors bureaus. Meeting planners agree that only the ‘best of the best’ receive our Awards of Excellence.”
ConVis President & CEO David Peckinpaugh points out that such awards for excellence also play an important role in solidifying San Diego’s reputation as a preferred convention and meeting destination.
“Destination sales and marketing is a highly competitive business," said Peckinpaugh. “The team here at ConVis is world-class and the consistently excellent service they provide to meeting professionals is a key factor to our success.”
"Being internationally known as the cream of the crop among the world's convention and visitors bureaus is an incredible honor for the ConVis team. But more importantly, our reputation for exceptional service will significantly influence meeting planners to select San Diego for future events," Peckinpaugh added.
